Soulmates and Bruises
by xXxDeadEyesNekuxXx
Summary: Red keeps getting bruises and doesn't know why or how while Green tries to piece together his own identity. (Story explores sexuality and the concept of soul-mates). Originalshipping, Preciousmetalshipping.


**Soulmates and Bruises**

 **Summary: Red keeps getting bruises and doesn't know why or how while Green tries to piece together his own identity. (Story explores sexuality and the concept of soul-mates). Originalshipping, Preciousmetalshipping.**

 **A/N:**

 **(based on something I read on Tumblr about soul-mates having bruises whenever the other got hurt)**

There was another ugly, purple bruise on his abdomen again. Red would know if he injured himself, he wasn't an idiot yet heaps of these strange, unexplainable bruises kept appearing. They didn't hurt or anything and went away quickly but still, it was strange. He pulled his shirt back down and put on his signature hat. Well, as long as it didn't cause him harm or interrupt with his training schedule then it was fine.

~/~

When Green was little, his sister had told him something very interesting. "A soul-mate is a person who we are meant to be with but sadly not everyone finds each-other in time… That's just fate. A soul-mate doesn't always mean as in someone we kiss-"

"Eww, that's icky!"

"Yes, it certainly is but you might want to kiss people in the future. Anyway, a soul-mate can even be defined as someone who you couldn't bear to live without."

Innocent, little Green had to think hard over this and came to an interesting conclusion, "Like a best friend! Like Red and me!"

Daisy had smiled at his innocence and just agreed with him. "Kind of. You will understand it when you're older."

The problem was, Green never did understand it. He was eighteen and could not describe what it was like having a soul-mate because he had no idea. He had never dated, despite his dazzling looks. Of course, he had been asked out many times before but he refused to date, mostly to spite his grandpa and partly because he wasn't interested. His grandpa always went on about how he had to get married and have kids and whatever the hell else. Stuff that, what would Green even get out of that? He didn't want kids, a wife and was fine with being single. Green wasn't even sure what his sexuality was to tell you the truth. Because of society, he used to define himself as straight because it was 'right'. Now that he was older he decided that no, he had no interest in females or males. Nor did he have an interest in anything sexual. Whenever someone talked about hormones and all that he would get confused because he had never wanted to have sex or start making out with anyone. It really didn't make much sense to him.

When he had discussed some of these issues with Red on one of his visits to Mt Silver Red had replied, "Not everyone is interested in those kinds of things. The media just portrays it that way." Red was very knowledgeable on these kinds of topics and his opinions always made sense. He suggested that Green was 'asexual' which meant a person uninterested in sex and wouldn't do the dirty if they had the choice between that and cake. Red had also added that he himself was the same but that it didn't mean that you couldn't be straight and asexual. Green still didn't see himself as straight though, even with the asexual word added on. He also didn't see himself as gay either.

On one of his usual dinners at gramps's lab, Green had nearly lost his cool when the man brought up dating choices. "That girl from Johto that always hangs around that Gold boy seems pretty nice. Why not ask her out or is Gold already going out with her?"

Upon remembering what Gold's actual dating life was like, the brunet grinned widely and replied, "Oh no, Gold is dating that boy whose father was the head of Team Rocket!"

The Professor furrowed his brow at that in a disapproving manner but didn't say anything more. He never openly stated his dislike for anyone who wasn't stereotypically straight. Green really hated people like this because what was the problem? Love was love, no matter what gender you identified as or dated.

"There's a lot more sexualities than you might think." Red had told Green on another visit. He liked to help out whenever he could, especially if something was troubling Green. "But I'm not really good at defining the rest of them." He read lots of books on sexuality and human psychological development apparently but then again, there wasn't much else to do on this mountain so he might as well read about stuff that interested him. Green wondered if Red actually tried hard enough then he could study to become a psychologist or counsellor. He wasn't really much of a talker though and struggled considerably with socialising.

Eventually, Green decided to talk about all of this with Gold whom he often kicked a ball with after battling. They were both sporty and usually had a game of one-on-one soccer. "I only found out that I was gay after I met Silver because damn, Silv is gorgeous! You're pretty hot too, don't get me wrong but Silv is on a whole other level!"

Irritation was clear on the brunet's face but he ignored the comment. "But what do you think of girls and what do you think of guys, specifically? I'm not really sure how sexualities even work."

Gold had shrugged and replied, "Girls are annoying as hell and evil. Boys are hot and… I don't really know. All I can really tell you is that I only check-out dudes and never chicks. Chicks are boring."

None of this was making any sense to Green. He didn't check-out anyone and had no idea how to even do that. So, he took gay, bi and straight off of his list of sexualities that defined him. As he was thinking about this, he took a soccer ball to the face. "Damn-it Green! Pay better attention next time!" Green often got injured these days because of all of his spacing out as he tried to piece together his orientation.

~/~

Red woke up one day with his nose bruised and sighed deeply. Great, now all of his Pokemon would be concerned about him and if anyone saw him, specifically Green, then they would freak. It wasn't the weekend so Green was unlikely to show up anyway, fortunately. It was annoying having these bruises all the time because despite all of his researching, Red had not found the answer. Maybe he bruised extremely easily? He hadn't had this problem when he was a child though… Or at least, he didn't remember ever having it. He didn't remember so much of his childhood, it's not like it was amazing. At first it had been great because he had made a friend; Green. Later on, the joy and innocence had been sucked out of life and they became rivals (mostly because Green had turned into an asshole). Then they had gone on their Pokemon journey and battled a lot. At the very end, Red made it to the Kanto Champion's room at the league but it turned out that Green had beaten him to it. Out of respect for Green, Red had challenged him and had won, though barely.

Red had shattered Green's world, he had seen it through those emerald eyes that had once held so much happiness when they were younger. Professor Oak had chewed Green out, making things all the more worse and Red had felt as if he had made a terrible mistake. One he could never take back. So after he was inducted in the Hall of Fame he ran.

Green came to his home, Mt Silver about three years later looking ready to punch something, cry and hug Red all at once. He had tried taking a swing at him and Red stood still, calmly watching his every movement and awaiting the attack. The brunet swung his first forward but stopped himself inches away from impact and started shaking. "…Y-You didn't call, write or even tell anybody where you went!" He had exclaimed, taking back his first and glaring at Red with wet eyes.

"…Yes." Red confirmed, his facial expression asking, 'so?'

"EVERYONE THOUGHT YOU WERE _DEAD_!" Green exploded, all his rage pouring out. "You might as well have been what with your sudden leaving and all! There was even a search for you!"

Red was looking at him, indifferent. He shrugged, not really sure what to say.

"You are such an asshole! How can you not care? Your own mother was in a frenzy!"

Shrug. Again.

Red, at that time, had not felt anything. It was like his emotions had been numbed to the point that he could no longer grasp them. However, when he saw the tears pouring down Green's cheeks, he felt it. There, a stab. It was like his own heart had been pierced through and it was painful. Green Oak never cried. It. Just. Didn't. Happen. Ever.

So he had acted because he was never good at words and had pulled Green into his arms without a word. He rubbed his back with his hands to soothe him and just listened patiently to his sobs between words. "A-Asshole! …Hate you… Jerk…" It was basically a string of curses and names that made the Champion roll his eyes at the childish behaviour.

Green regularly visited after that and that eventually fixed their once broken bond piece by piece. Red started to talk more and Green's nice side was more visible. He was actually a big dork and not as intimidating as he made himself out to be. Things had been good but then the unexplained bruises started appearing on Red which made him nervous whenever the brunet visited. The guy often jumped to conclusions.

~/~

To aid Green's search for answers, he treated Gold and Silver to lunch at some café he forgot the name of. Silver was much more insightful than Gold, being the bright one of the duo. It was amazing that Gold had even made it to be the Johto Champion but eh, the kid did have good fighting strategies.

"I'm actually bisexual." Silver had said, dipping a fry into some sauce. "And I've always known that. Believe it or not but Team Rocket didn't discriminate against sexuality and I was never taught that being straight was everyone's 'default'. I was always taught that whoever you liked didn't really matter as long as you made a profit. See, they only cared about money and power, not to attack people on their differences."

"Unless they were weak of course!" Gold chirped, wanting to be a part of the conversation too. "It's kinda weird that a group of bad guys were more accepting than today's society. That's pretty fucked up!"

Green silently agreed and found himself actually giving some respect to Team Rocket. They were a bunch of assholes, sure but not as fucked up as people pictured them to be. Still, he was glad that they were gone because a lot of the things that did was quite gruesome like cutting off Slowpoke tails'. "Interesting but can you explain how you found out that you were bi exactly?"

Gold groaned and told his boyfriend, "He's going through an identity crisis right now. It's pretty annoying."

"I just liked guys and girls the same amount. Like if either asked me out and I liked them enough then I was fine with it." Silver said, ignoring Gold.

Again, none of this had helped Green. So he decided to go to someone that he was sure had the answer, his sister. Daisy had looked so happy when he told her everything. It was probably because he preferred keeping personal things secret.

She had made him sit down with her on a bench at a park and began giving her opinion on things after gushing about how adorable he was, "Well, you had never shown signs of liking anyone. You had always pushed other kids away after… you know." Their parents' death had been hard on both of them. "-but then you arrived home one day with a boy your age at your side who was the opposite of you." It was true of how different he and Red were. Spiky hair compared to flat, emerald eyes to ruby, tanned skin to pale, talkative personality to quiet… There had been so many differences to them yet they had hit it off. "You and he stuck together like glue ever since and then you both had a falling out… It had been upsetting watching your friendship break like that and I could see how sad you had been behind that anger." It had been a confusing time and he had just been so mad. Gramps had paid more attention to Red than his own grandson and that would get anyone riled up. But, he had matured and decided that if his gramps wanted to play favourites then fine because Red didn't even care. He never actually had but Green had deluded himself.

Daisy looked ready to cry. "You had been so upset after he disappeared… so lifeless. I remember seeing you stare out of the window and at the garden the both of you used to play in. The most saddest expression had been on your face while you did that… So when you came home after meeting him on Mt Silver for the first time, I had been so happy. You kept smiling, even if you bitched about him the whole time… I knew that you were finally pulling out of the deep sadness you had fallen into."

Green looked shocked at her words and felt his ears burn. He had been bubbly back then and filled with energy after finding Red. His sister paid more attention to him than he thought.

"And you continued getting better to the point that you never bitched about him again. I was amazed that your relationship with him had been fixed and was stronger than ever… To conclude this, I have one question to ask that will help you find the answer to yours."

The Gym Leader waited patiently, curious. He was a little nervous too because now Daisy looked serious. "Green, who could you not bear to lose?"

It echoed within his mind, repeating over and over. The image of snow and a figure clad in red came to mind.

Daisy looked at him with a knowing smile. "It's always been him, hasn't it? Just because you're not all stereotypical when it comes to him, it doesn't meant that you aren't in love with him."

Green's face felt like it was on fire and he exclaimed, "But then what's my sexuality?! It still doesn't make any sense!"

With a chuckle, Daisy replied, "There's a name for it; demisexual. It means to only be attracted to those you have a deep emotional bond with. Red fits into this category."

And that was it. Green had found his answer but had been presented with another problem; now that he realized he liked Red, he could never look at him the same ever again.

Green's theory was true because the next time he saw Red, he felt nervous and was very fidgety which didn't go unnoticed. "Something wrong?"

They had been sitting by the fire in the main cave, side-by-side and rugged up in blankets. Their Pokemon snored away peacefully in the background. "Oh, uh, no." The brunet denied, smiling reassuringly.

Red pursed his lips and scanned his face for any sign of lying before he shrugged. "Alright."

It was quiet again until the Champion spoke up, "I have something I need to tell you." Immediately, Green felt excited and filled with hope but frowned when Red pulled up his own pant legs and revealed ugly, purple and rather blotchy bruises on his legs. "These keep appearing randomly. They won't stop."

Crestfallen, Green sighed out, "Oh." But then he raised an eyebrow. "They're called bruises-"

"I know that!" Red snapped, annoyed. "It keeps happening. I never get injured but I wake up sometimes with them."

Unconvinced, Green shrugged. He didn't really care that much. He was too disappointed.

Red huffed and punched him hard in the stomach. "Oof! Jerk!"

While the brunet was in pain, Red felt an odd tingle in the area of his stomach and lifted his shirt to reveal some discoloured skin. It was a little bit pink and certainly had not always been there. Oddly, it seemed to be darkening.

Curious, Green took a look too and gasped. What the actual hell?

Cogs started churning away within Red's mind and he punched Green on the foot (since it wouldn't hurt as much as the rest of the body).

When the shoe and sock was removed, Red's own foot had some red marks. "It's you." He said, not really understanding himself. "If you get injured then I get bruised."

It was a little romantic in a twisted and weird way. Still, Green regained some hope. It had to be some kind of sign.

"That's weird. I don't appreciate you beating me up though."

"Toughen up, I didn't even punch you that hard."

"You totally did and hey, stop laughing at me!"

And laugh Red did. It was a charming and soothing laugh that wasn't heard often. To hear Red laugh was a rare occurrence and like a miracle so soon Green was laughing too.

After the outburst died down, Green furrowed his brow and looked at the ground. "I kind of like you… I think I have for a while now." He murmured, confessing what he had kept locked away for a while. "Maybe I've always liked you but as you know, I'm not very good with all these feelings and stuff…"

Red inwardly agreed. Green was an idiot to stuff like this but he kept quiet. He preferred to listen anyway rather than talk.

"It's always just been you that I've liked from the very start." He didn't expect Red to call him a monster or anything because he knew that Red wasn't like that. Still, he did expect rejection and decided that maybe it wouldn't hurt so much. But when he met Red's ever-glowing eyes that held hidden secrets, he decided that yes, it would hurt a lot. It would be agonizing and he wasn't sure if he could take it.

"…Is that all true?" Red whispered, actually showing emotion and looking so unsure of himself.

Green nodded and gulped. "I couldn't lie about something like that."

Red frowned. "Why?"

"Why what?" The brunet searched Red's face for an answer and there it was, clear as day, conveying what he wasn't asking; 'why me?'

Flashes of rare smiles and the images of a world without Red raced through Green's mind. He couldn't live in a world without him.

"Because… You're everything. Without you I'm just… Green Oak…" What he was trying to say was that he didn't feel like himself if Red wasn't there. He felt false, like someone trying to hide behind a mask.

Silence settled in around them and all they could do was stare as if all the answers would be received simply by looking. They both looked desperate in figuring each-other out, trying to get in the other's mind and in the end, Red was the one to speak, "So this is a confession?"

"Yes! Obviously!"

"I'm not very good with… romance…"

"I don't care, we're both ace and I'm not gonna suddenly wanna make-out."

Now, Red was smiling. "Then Green Oak, I hereby declare you as my boyfriend."

"Oh hell to the no! I asked you out so doesn't that mean I declare you as mine? Damn, now I'm confused."

With a roll of the eyes, Red pulled the dork into a hug. Everything Green had said made perfect sense; he couldn't think of anyone more important to him than Green. It seemed that they were more alike than they appeared…

Perhaps the bruises were a sign that they were destined to be together, perhaps they were something more. Even if they didn't really understand themselves, there was one thing they did; there would be no Green without Red and there would be no Red without Green.

 **A/N: Haven't posted a fanfic in ages but this was written in a day to celebrate my birthday! Woo!**


End file.
